April 20th - 6 Months Out

This last week has been a lot of fun and full of different activities!  It flew by super quick!  I forgot my usual notes of events from the week, so I might be missing a few fun details from last week.

On Monday last week, we had our P-Day and we played some games with the Elders from Herne and Gelsenkirchen.  An Elder who is new to Herne, Elder Vogl, and I played around with my lighter and we made a huge flame.  It was at least 8 inches high.  Later that evening, Elder Trippe and I went to the Buildhäuser's house for Family Home Evening.  Their oldest son who is 6 years old was in charge of the night.  He invited us at church, the day before, to come and provide a game.  He conducted everything and it was super great.  After the lesson, by his mom, we had the activity.  We provided a Scavenger Hunt for him and the two younger girls.  We hide some chocolate candies, a Samuel theLamanite action figure, and a Whoopie Cushion.  They loved it.

Tuesday, we had an appointment at a member's house and left at around 7.  We then walked over to the Ziegner's place to talk with them about their daughter.  Their daughter is being baptized this Saturday on the 25th and she technically needs to have all the missionary lessons because she is 9 years old, not 8. Technicalities. We planned out our next couple of appointments with them so that we could get all that done for them. Wednesday was our first lesson with Lia, the daughter, and it was fun. Naturally, she has a super short attention span and is now tired of listening to us.  She goes to the bathroom each time in the middle of our lessons at the most random times.  It is super funny because I would not want to be getting lectured either if I was in her shoes.

Thursday, we continued to help a family in the ward move, but this one was different from the last time. We get to their door, which is right below ours, and they take the 4 of us to Essen, their new house. Next thing we know, we're painting their house.  What?  It was long and somewhat unexpected.  The Essen Elders then show up also and joined us.  Right after we finished up there, we got changed and we took a train to Dortmund for Institute.  It is pretty much an hour long class thing of different topics for the Young Single Adults.  We went because we have a 22 year old investigator and because they served food after.  We usually teach Sophie a lesson or something while on the Bahn (train) or at the church right before institute starts.  This time, we had the mission president join us in the lesson.  He was in the area doing interview with people who are leaving home this transfer.  Our lesson was about the baptismal interview questions because she had a baptismal date set for the next week.  We went thought all of them and it went really well.  We talked about some of her concerns.  The main one was simply about her parents.  Her parents are not for or against the baptism.  She wants them to know what she is about to get herself into so she wants to bring them to church to get them comfortable with the idea.  She really wants to be baptized, but does not want to go burning any bridges just yet.  Her baptismal date got canceled for now, but we are going to be setting a new one with her this week.  We hope to baptize her in the next couple weeks.  She is super ready!  After the lesson, we were then interviewed by the Mission President.  It was really good.  I had two in the past already and they were not that great simply because I did not feel like I was talking with a person.  This time, it was really good because the water was already warm from having him join us in our lesson and it felt more personable. It was nice to just talk about anything and about the mission as though I was having a conversation. After we were both done, we went up for institute.  It was a really good lesson.  As I stood up, I heard two people talking about motorcycles.  "Oh sweet!"  I though. They then walked outside and a member from Herne named Lars was showing this other guy his bike.  I ended up going outside a couple minutes later.  It is probably the nicest bike I have ever seen!  He made it all himself.  Found parts, made others, and took him about 3 years.  It goes over 300kmh (186+ mph)!!!  I heard that one time, he was late to church.  

Elder Stout asked, "Hey where were you?"  

Lars proceeded to explain and then stated, "I would have been later, but I was able to hit 300 kmh to make it here earlier."  

Elder Stout  Said, "Lars! If you crash you are done for!"

Lars Said, "I was on my way to church. I was doing what he wants me to do every Sunday so He will protect me."

Super funny guy.  I was unable to understand how, but apparently his bike can sound louder than some airplanes when he is going full speed. Crazy right? Oh man. Good stuff.

We went by a previous investigator on Saturday.  We were able to make an appointment with him to come to church for next week, so we will see how that goes.  Sunday came along and it was great!  We watched the Sunday afternoon session of General Conference for the 2nd and 3rd hour of church as a ward.  After, all 4 of us went to the Ziegner's house for some food.  We ended up having a BBQ.  I have not eaten BBQed food for a long time.  We had some beef and Wurst.  It was super good!  It was crisp on the edges, super juicy and tender, and just melted in your mouth.  It was amazing!  The Wurst was also really good.  I learned how to make it into a curry wurst.  Tons of spices and powders. Worth it.

That was pretty much my week.  It was a super great week and I am really loving my mission!  I love serving people and meeting people.  I love how my German is to the point where I can actually have relationships with people and be myself.  I love you guys and I can't wait to see you all on Mother's Day in a couple weeks!

Elder Grow

Post from April 13th

So recently has been full of change.  I am still here in Gelsenkirchen, but I am just in the other Apartment.  In my new apartment, we shower sitting down and we spray ourselves with lukewarm water.  If you hear the water heater box click, you have 3 seconds until you have freezing water.  I recently found out the trick to hot water so that is nice.  I have had lots of good experiences with it so far.  My new address is:

Overhofstrasse 12

45881 Gelsenkirchen

Monday evening we went to the main train station and we met up with the Elders in Herne.  Elder Stout then joined our companionship for a couple days.  His companion went home early :(   We had a lot of fun being in a 3 man group though.  He was with us until mid Thursday until we got our companions. While being in a drit, we were in charge of the appointments in Herne and Gelsenkirchen.  We did lots of traveling.  We also ended up spending the night in Herne for one night.  It was not ideal.  Their water heater is broken and that means the showers would suck.  We ended up taking a pot and heating it up on the stove.  You would then go to the shower and use a cup to pour water on yourself.  It felt really nice once you were finished because you then pour the rest of the pot on you and you enjoy the warmth longer than 2 seconds.  While we were together in a drit, I learned about a new card game.  Mom, you would really like this game I think.  You need to go look for Hanabi.  It was only 4 bucks for me because it was on sale, but normally about 7.  I ended up getting myself a copy of it the day we went to Dortmund to get our companions.  As I might have said in my last Email, my new companion is Elder Trippe (Pronounced Trip).  He is really cool and we get along great!  He is from California and has been out on his mission for about a year.  He has only had negative experiences with the showers.

Then on Friday, we helped a ward member move for about 7 or 8 hours.  I was pooped.  We carried out a lot of boxes and other stuff.  We disassembled a big wooden sauna and had to carry the pieces down 4 stories.  We then brought it up 5 stories in the next house. We were all sweaty and just done.  I was still feeling energetic once we were finished, but then about 30 minutes of doing no work hit and I was drained.  We went to Spiel Abend (game night) at the church and I was not all the way there.  I was tired and not in a people mood.  To make it worse, I had to talk with the participants in German and listen to them talk really fast and loud.  I was super out of it. We then went home for the night and I just took some time to relax.

Saturday, we weekly planned and tried to figure out exactly where the work is and what is going on.  We have both been thrown into this new place with new people.  Right now, we have two baptismal dates. One of them is just a 9 year old girl in the ward who needs the lessons simply because she is over 8 and is considered a convert.  Kinda dumb in my opinion but you know.  So yeah, we have two baptisms coming up on April the 25th and I am excited for that!

That has been the week for the most part!  I hope you guys are still doing good and I will see you guys next month for mother's day!

Elder Grow

Photo 1: My comp

Photo 2: The new Gelsenkirchen Crew

March 30th News

Hi All,

I actually do not know what is going on with the plane crash.  I sometimes hear members or other people talking about it but I only understand so much.  I really miss the news.  The news screen at train stations are hard to understand.   I really love doing service here because it does not happen all that often.  I am just ready to do a different kind of service now.  I have helped 3 people move in the past week.  It is just our luck that all these people live in the highest room in the tallest tower.  Ah well.

The mission really is a roller coaster.  When a day is rough, I usually feel better after I wake up the next day.  I am keeping a journal every night.  I always write a little something unless absolutely nothing happens one day.

So there is nothing extraordinary that happened this week.  I'm sorry if you were looking forward to something good.  It was just one of those weeks.  Lots of ausgefallen terminen (failed appointments) but what else can you do?  This week flew by extremely fast though.  In fact, the past couple weeks have also.  I do not know how, but it did.

This week is transfer calls.  Friday we all call 'Danger Day' because that is the day where President will call you for positions.  He will call you sometime during the day and ask you to either train a new missionary, become District Leader (DL), Zone Leader (ZL) or Assistant to the President (AP).  The next day, Saturday, is the transfer call day where we all link in to a group call and they start in a certain zone and district and read off the names of people there and you have to listen for your name to see if you get booted out (Slang - Being Transferred).  I have been in Gelsenkirchen for 3 transfers already, so there is a chance that I can go.  I think I have one more here at least though.  Once I do leave though, I want to go to a biking area so I can stay in good shape.  It would also be a bonus if the area was also pretty. Apparently, Gelsenkirchen is one of the ugliest places.  It is all I know so I could not say otherwise. In the video game Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons there's a map called Essen.  I cannot remember if I already told you, but I am literally right next to Essen.  I thought that was pretty cool when I found that out when I was first here.  Here's a cool motorcycle like the ones on the game.

I was also hit with a sudden realization the last week or two.  I am ACTUALLY LEARNING GERMAN.  I never thought much of it.  I came to this realization when I was thinking about my mom and Portuguese.  I always would say to people back home and here, "Yeah my mom can speak Portuguese."  I then realized that my mom is probably saying, or at least will someday say, "Yeah my son can speak German."  What the heck!  That is weird for me to think of.  I am able to communicate in a language that not many people back home know.  I don't know.  Maybe you have to be in my shoes to understand how weird this actually sounds.  Last week, I wrote to you guys that I was going to find an investigator this week?  Well, it didn't happen... Yep.  Sucks.  None of our investigators have ever been 'normal'.  They are always a little off in some way or another.  I just want to find someone who is normal and who listens and discusses gospel stuff.  I just want someone who is all the way there.  Sigh.  Someday right?  I will find someone.  I just want to be that person who a convert says, "Elder Grow is my missionary.  I would not have found the Gospel if it was not for him."  Now, I do not want this to sound prideful.  I already am a little prideful in certain areas, but not here.  I just want to make a difference in someone's life out here.  I know that it's not me that converted the person but I want to be the tool used in the process.  I want to be actively involved in the process.  I want to be that missionary for someone.  I do not want my mission to go to waste.  I know that I still have a lot of time but I want to be like Ammon and bring at least one soul to Christ. (Read Alma 26: 23-30) I love it. I get chills when I read this chapter.  I just want to do a good job and help people.

Anyway.  Yeah.  Thanks for your guy's update and for listening to my desires and thoughts.  I will write you all next week!

Elder Grow